36-year-old IIT Madras student participated in ?beef fest? assa

CHENNAI: A IIT-Madras PhD scholar was assaulted on Tuesday by a group of students on the institute's premise for partaking in a beef eating fest on Sunday.

According to eyewitness accounts, the incident happened around 2.15pm as the victim R Sooraj(36) was having lunch with a friend, when a group of eight students, belonging to the Vivekananda Study Circle, approached the duo. "The group was led by Manish Kumar, a master's degree student with the ocean engineering department," said Manoj Parameswaran, a friend of Sooraj.

Manish Kumar, according to Sooraj's friends, is allegedly a member of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is an off shoot of the RSS.

The group is said to have asked Sooraj, a member of the Ambedkar-Periyar study circle, if he had participated in the beef eating event, which was filmed and posted on social networking sites late on Sunday. When Sooraj replied in the affirmative, the group pulled his friend away. Two members then held Sooraj back for Manish to punch, Parameswaran said.

Early report from doctors at the private eye hospital in Nungambakkam, where Sooraj is undergoing emergency treatment, indicated that he suffered severe injury in his right eye, as well as on the cranium. Sooraj had been punched to the side of his ear before several blows rained on his right eye, his friends said.

"He was bleeding profusely from his eye and mouth when we took him to the institute hospital. But they asked us to take him elsewhere as the injury was severe," Parameswaran said.

At the IIT-M clinic, Manish returned to threaten Sooraj's friends and is alleged to have warned the eyewitness of dire consequences if the matter was taken to police.

Sooraj, a native of Mallapuram district in Kerala, would undergo surgery to fix the lacerations suffered as a result of the blows, though it is feared among his friends that his vision may be affected due to the severity of the blows.

The Kotturpuram police were yet to file an FIR even though the students registered a complaint.

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